THE MEDIA BUSINESS

THE MEDIA BUSINESS; Cable Networks Look for Ways To Stand Out

By JIM RUTENBERG

Published: August 20, 2001

Cable channel surfing has become confusing enough to cause a TV viewer to rise from the couch in bewilderment.

In the last few months, Romance Classics has changed its name to WE -- short for Women's Entertainment. The Odyssey network has become the Hallmark Channel. And ZDTV has become Tech TV. CNNfn, meanwhile, plans to transform itself into something called CNN Money in the fall.

And then there is the Nashville Network, which has become the National Network -- although it still goes by TNN. Meanwhile, TNT, owned by AOL Time Warner has introduced a new logo and has begun telling its viewers that it has transformed itself from a general-interest network into one that ''knows drama,'' even though it still mainly seems to know the same sporting events, movies and mini-series that it knew before.

As that bewildered channel surfer might demand to know, what is going on here?

Chalk it up to desperation in the face of change. Digital cable, once a far-off land of hundreds of channels, is making its way into a fast-growing number of American living rooms -- 12 million of the nation's 70 million cable households, to be exact.

As digital cable raises the typical system to 150 or more channels from 60 or so, any cable network without a major hit will find it hard to stand out.

By subjecting themselves to beauty makeovers or personality transplants, the more general-interest cable channels hope to distinguish themselves, with viewers and advertisers, from new, tightly focused networks like the Game Show Network and the Outdoor Life Network.

The question is whether all the flux might ultimately confuse viewers and send them into the comforting, reliable -- and reliably few -- arms of the broadcast network programmers. Cable programming executives said that this is the risk they must take, especially the older networks. For years, the mainstream channels could count on drawing relatively large audiences just because they were there. But those days are ending.

''As you truly enter a 100- , 200- , 300-channel universe, when there's really a lot of offerings out there, we need to be known for something more than just movies and sports,'' said Brad Siegel, president of the Turner Entertainment Networks, the unit of AOL Time Warner that oversees TNT and TBS. ''We need to stake out a position in the consumers' minds,'' he said. ''Advertisers are really looking to cable to deliver more defined demographics.''

TNT has been on cable since 1988. Now, Mr. Siegel said, it is trying to appeal to a slightly more affluent and well-educated audience, with programs like ''Law & Order'' and ''ER.''

TBS, which has been on cable since 1976, plans to show more comedies like ''Friends'' and ''Seinfeld'' in an effort to attract typical cable families -- ones in which fathers dominate the remote controls.

Turner is not alone in revamping its cable networks. Doug Herzog, the president of the USA Network, said he was devising plans to give USA a stronger identity.

''If you're going to watch 'Indiana Jones' for the 54th time -- and guess what? you are -- we want you come away knowing where you watched it,'' Mr. Herzog said, ''so that when we're talking to you and trying to get you to come back for our original series, you'll remember us.''

USA, TBS and TNT, which are among the oldest networks on cable, are in a particular crunch. They are not only girding for a siege from new competitors but also from established ones.

Lifetime, the network for women that is owned by the Walt Disney Company and the Hearst Corporation and was started in 1984, has changed its look by giving its screen the appearance of a personal journal when introducing and promoting programs. And Lifetime has introduced new original series, including the ''The Division'' and ''Strong Medicine.'' Such moves have helped lift the network from obscurity to become the top-rated, basic cable network in prime time.

Meanwhile, FX, the News Corporation's general entertainment network that was started in 1994, is about to be carried in Manhattan for the first time, on Time Warner Cable, though it has been carried elsewhere in the New York area. Further, exposure in a major media capital should give FX a higher profile and better ratings, which is why executives are giving it a new look and acquiring new dramatic series that its executives say they hope will be hits on the order of HBO's ''Sex and the City.''

The changes at TNN, started in 1983 and now owned by Viacom, have made it a more threatening player as well. Largely helped by its acquisition of professional wrestling -- which had been on USA -- TNN moved to 9th in the basic cable prime-time ratings from 21st in the last year.

Among other changes, the Southern television fare of the former Nashville Network (series like ''The Dukes of Hazzard'' and ''The Real McCoys'') has made way for the National Network's new schedule of original reality shows and reruns with supposedly wider appeal (''Star Trek,'' ''Baywatch'' and ''MadTV'').

This week, TNN will begin showing four new prime-time programs, among them ''Small Shots,'' in which regular people are cast in short spoofs of popular films, and ''Lifegame,'' an adaptation of an Off Broadway play in which the life stories of audience members and celebrity guests are acted by an improvisational troupe.

Even TNN is experiencing large viewer growth; its prime-time audience has doubled to 1.2 million the last year. The network's executive vice president and general manager, Diane Robina, said she was under the same pressures as her competitors to become as well known as possible, as quickly as possible.

The fear, Ms. Robina said, is that people with access to hundreds of cable channels will be overwhelmed by the choices and will end up with only 5 or 10 channels that they go to regularly. TNN, in 81 million homes, has to move to establish itself on those individual channel lists before the digital revolution spreads, she said.

''In the 500-channel universe, there will be no more surfing,'' she said. ''People will pick up the remote control, they will program in their favorite channels, or push in the number of the channels, and so you really have to stand for something.''

Analysts who monitor the television industry generally support the networks' changes and makeovers.

''It is a risk to not do it,'' said Jack Myers, chief economist for Myers Reports, which publishes media and research newsletters.

Of course, the best way to lure an audience and define a network has remained the same for decades: develop huge hits. But these days, those can prove to be as hard to find as rabbit-ear antennas.

Photo: The actor and rapper Ice-T on ''Lifegame,'' in which the stories of audience members and celebrities are acted by an improvisational troupe. (Jim Hagans/TNN)(pg. C9) Chart: ''Cable Networks in Flux'' TNN -- Has changed its name from the Nashville Network to the National Network. Shows with appeal to younger viewers are replacing Southern-flavored ones. TNT -- Now refers to itself as the place for ''drama lovers,'' with Witchblade'' and reruns of dramatic series like ''Law & Order.'' TBS -- Has been revamped as a haven for ''regular guys,'' with a comedy- heavy schedule that will eventually include ''Friends'' and ''Seinfeld.'' ROMANCE CLASSICS -- Has changed its name to WE: Women's Entertainment, and has begun to carry original programming meant to attract a younger audience. ODYSSEY -- Has been renamed the Hallmark Channel, with less religious programming and new, original movies. FOX FAMILY -- Is being acquired by Disney and is scheduled to be renamed ABC Family. At that point, the network will carry some original shows and reruns of ABC news and entertainment programs. LIFETIME -- Has been shored up with original programs like ''Strong Medicine'' and ''The Division'' and has been given a new on-screen look. CNNFN -- Is scheduled to become CNN Money this fall, with a greater emphasis on personal finance. CNN HEADLINE NEWS -- Has been redesigned with a screen resembling a Web site and a greater emphasis on entertainment, technology and environmental issues. ZDTV -- Has been renamed Tech TV and given a new programming lineup covering technology in general, instead of its focus on personal computing. USA -- Is to be repositioned as a fashionable, general-interest cable network, although the details are still being worked out. ESPN -- Is planning to infuse its schedule with sports-related movies, reality programs and documentaries. (pg. C9)